World Council of Churches turns 70—A Report of a Festive Day

You’d hardly expect it, but at the celebration of 70 years World Council of Churches at August 23rd 2018 someone attended who also attended the celebration in 1948. Albert van den Heuvel, now 86 years old, was the secretary-general of the Dutch Reformed Church and the chairman of the VARA, a socialistic broadcasting company in The Netherlands. In 1948 he attended the celebration in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, and now attended the symposium.

The European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups and the “New Generation” Humanitarian NGO (Yerevan, Armenia) are forced to announce the cancellation of this year’s Forum of LGBT Christians of Eastern Europe and Central Asia that was due to take place in Yerevan on 15–18 November 2018. We are deeply distressed and disappointed that political violence, death threats, and vandalism directed at LGBTI people are constituting a genuine threat to the safety of our participants.

Response to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Memo to Government Agencies

The European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups was shocked and saddened by the news that the US Department of Health and Human Resources has issued a memo to Government Agencies proposing that gender and sex are one, and that they are “determined on a biological basis”, if necessary supported by genetic evidence. There can only be male and female. Such a rigid viewpoint rules out any possibility of recognition of those with variant gender identity and could also affect some people with intersex conditions.